political-administrative-system

16.1. Short description The innovative core of NM is combining spatial and urban planning with sectorial policy interventions in a defined territory (see above). Hence, the background approach of NM is mainly about networking among stakeholders and the pooling of local resources within districts with special development needs. The project is financed by a federal-regional…

17.1. Short description The so-called Princesses Gardens in Kreuzberg offer a complex project that attempts to change people’s mind sets on a broader scale than most of the pragmatic solutions in the realm of welfare. As a part of the international urban gardening movement, the highly attractive project pursues an alternative approach how to use…

18.1. Short description The “Job Explorer” project aims to create new ways of job orientation for youngsters by paving personal links between pupils and employers instead of between schools and companies. Hence, the project claims to establish a lasting, trust-based dialogue between tomorrow’s jobseekers and potential employers that could be regarded as innovative. A multiphase…

19.1. Short description “Kreuzberg Acts – entrepreneurship in the district” pursues a twofold approach towards social inclusion. On the one hand, jobseekers and local entrepreneurs, half of them migrants, receive comprehensive consultancy to explore their entrepreneurial potentials or rather stabilise their business. For instance, those interested in founding a start-up are coached by local mentors…

20.1. Short description The project Neighbourhood Mothers bridges gaps within a multicultural but fragmented society, both pragmatically and symbolically. Based on blueprints from the Netherlands and other German cities, the innovative approach is strictly resource-oriented and neighbourhood-related. Basically, the project developed further the idea of intercultural mediators and mentors helping immigrant families with educational and…

21.1. Short description Family centres are a complementary offer to kindergartens and day-care institutions pursuing a more holistic approach. Their innovative feature is to empower families by strengthening their competences instead of providing merely services to them that claim to substitute what the respective families cannot provide. This complementary and holistic approach of “family-minded services”…

The description of innovations presented here can be discussed and developed further in various directions and within various frameworks. Three possible ways – all to be dealt with in the WILCO project – will be sketched here in the conclusive remarks. Social services research: innovations as illustrative examples for a new generation of social services…

Local background of the social innovations Social innovations do not come “out of the blue” but capitalise on different resources, e.g. human capital and public support, available at the locality where they are developed and put into practice. Moreover, social innovations, perceived as indicators and messengers, respond to social problems occurring at a particular time…